Remember when you we’re a kid, and if a game wasn’t turning out just the way you thought is should you could yell “Do Over”! Now that the first month of this new decade has come and gone, how did you fare so far in your new year’s resolutions?
Did you join that gym, start that diet or clean out that closet you’ve been promising yourself you would do?
Well if your first month of the year ended up falling back into that old confort zone of routine that you resolved to change – fear not - just shout “DO OVER” and Intend – to Do it Over!
Embracing a healthier lifestyle is much more than mere promises to do the things we think we should do, it is setting the intention do the things we know we should do to live each day better than the day before.
As we approach the rest of the New Year let’s have a re-do! Not by making the same old unrealistic New Year’s resolutions – many of which probably have already been broken before the end of January. Why not try something different this year? Committing yourselves to set the intention to make each day of the year better that the day before. Set your intention to live a little bit healthier than you have been. Intention to achieve a personal goal once a week. When you do this you start to make a difference in yourself and your communities.
New Year’s intentions need not just be about replacing old habits with new ones or losing those few extra pounds, they can provide an opportunity to change your life and the lives of others.
Here are a steps that you can take on purpose towards making this New Year a brand New You!
Eat a salad. Having a salad with every lunch and/or dinner serves two purposes – it provides the fresh servings of vegetables that you need and it helps fill you so that you’re not consuming as much of the other stuff. Eating salad almost every day may be one of the healthiest eating habits you can adopt — and one of the simplest, experts say.
Eating salads is a super-convenient way to work in a couple of servings of vegetables and/or fruit. Green salads are on the menu of almost every restaurant. You can even buy a side salad (with Romaine lettuce, carrots and tomatoes, available with fat-free or reduced-calorie salad dressing) for a buck at many fast food chains these days. And you can make a green salad at home in 5 minutes, armed with a bag of pre-washed salad greens, a few carrots or other veggies, and a bottle of light salad dressing.
Not only that, but salads are cool, crunchy, and fun to eat (lots of textures, colors, and flavors). Most people enjoy eating salads–even kids! You can customize them to include the fruits and vegetables that appeal to you the most, and whichever ones you have on hand.
Talk a walk. If you don’t already exercise regularly – start by taking a leisurely afternoon stroll on the weekend. You’ll get some fresh air and get your heart pumping. If a daily fitness walk could be put in a pill, it would be one of the most popular prescriptions in the world. It has so many health benefits. Walking can reduce the risk of many diseases — from heart attack and stroke to hip fracture and glaucoma. These may sound like claims on a bottle of snake oil, but they’re backed by major research. Walking requires no prescription, the risk of side effects is very low, and some of the benefits the benefits are simply amazing such as: Managing your weight, Controlling your blood pressure, Decreasing your risk of heart attack, Boosting “good” cholesterol, Lowering your risk of stroke and Reducing your risk of breast cancer and type 2 diabetes.
Read a book. Get your brain active and distress with a good book.
Reading increases your vocabulary and improves your spelling, but did you know that reading increases your vocabulary more than talking or direct teaching? Reading forces us to look at words that we might not have recently seen or heard. In fact, languages in children’s books are likely to be more sophisticated than your average conversation.
Every day. You’ll be surprised at the words you start incorporating into your everyday life. When reading a book, the mind shifts gears. Where you may have had a stressful day, a book can easily distract you and take you into a form of meditation. Fiction is fantastic for this. Reading an awesome fiction book is perfect right before bed time. Although sometimes it’s hard to put the book down if it’s really good. Still, you’ll be relaxed. Reading can soothe like no other. Given that most of us are pretty high-energy out of necessity, reading forces you to sit still and quiet your mind. This daily act of making yourself be quiet and still will be nothing short of miraculous for anxiety
Meditate. Embrace your inner silence with meditation or prayer. It only takes 10 minutes of quieting the mind to calm your spirit and start your day off on a positive note. In our fast-paced, noisy world, silence is certainly at a premium. By embracing silence on a regular basis through prayer, meditation, etc., we create the opportunity to center ourselves and get in touch with that small, still voice within us that represents our deepest wisdom and truth. We all need to turn down the noise in our lives and tune into truth and wisdom on a regular basis to maintain our spiritual and emotional balance. Regular meditation calms down the restlessness of the mind, and decreases the number of distracting thoughts, bringing a sense of inner peace and relaxation. As the sense of inner peace increases, the ability to concentrate and focus the mind improves.
With a peaceful mind we make fewer mistakes, make better decisions and become more patient and tolerant. This of course improves one’s relationships with family, friends, neighbors and colleagues.
Regular meditation enhances our sense of happiness and contentment. As the mind becomes more and more peaceful, the number of worries, anxieties, fears and negative thoughts decreases, and in their absence, happiness rises unobstructed from within as the solutions to our problem flow much more easily in a calm mind.
Stress and tension normally experienced in our daily lives comes from our mind, and our inner search of how to deal with them. These stresses, including illness, are brought about or aggravated by stress and tension. This distress can be dramatically reduced by regular meditation. When the mind is at peace, many daily problems simply disappear, and others are more dealt with ease.
Treat yourself. Once a month treat yourself to some “Me Time” do something you like although nothing hard or overly competitive. Do something fun, see a funny movie, go to a museum, a spa, go to the beach… anything that you would consider fun and stress free. Now that you have the time and the place, what should you do with your” Power Hour”? Anything you want! To nurture yourself, identify what you enjoy doing on your own, and make that a priority no matter what Once you start taking time for yourself, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it. The ”ME” time is important because it balances “ME”! If you can’t find any time to schedule for yourself, you may need to take a look at your activities and priorities. When you start taking time for yourself, remember that you are doing this gradually. If you can’t take an hour every day, start with an hour each week or 10 minutes each day. You may enjoy it so much that you’ll find a way to devote more time to yourself. This time enables you to be a better person to those who are important to you.
After you’ve built short periods of intentional wellness activity into your day, think about times when you could lengthen each one by a few minutes or add an extra day a week. The key is to start small and grow gradually. You are creating a better, healthier lifestyle not demanding to resolve a harmful habit. Next time you look for an excuse to skip a salad, a short walk, some quiet time or a reason to just laugh; remind yourself of the benefits. You’re helping yourself feel good, look better and live longer. Who wouldn’t want that? It’s a new year, a new decade, and it’s time for a New You!
Treat yourself as if you were already who you’d like to become.
We are all “works in progress!” Respect and honor your progress of “becoming” and your destination will seem nearer.
